It's been a year since Dell engineered the landmark $58 billion acquisition of data storage giant EMC, and through the first half of its first full fiscal year, the results have beaten forecasts, Dell said.

Outside of his VMworld keynote presentation, Michael Dell used a couple of question-and-answer sessions to talk about how he views Dell Technologies' and VMware's position in the cloud, in partnerships and in ecosystems that include competitors.

Over the next few quarters, the company will hire storage specialists across its go-to-market segments, global specialty teams and channel teams, says Infrastructure Solutions Group President David Goulden.

HPE Global Channel Vice President Ken Archer, a highly respected 30-plus-year channel veteran who was recently appointed head of the Pointnext partner business, spoke with CRN about the Pointnext partner sales offensive, rules of engagement and IT services economics.

Dell EMC Channel Chief John Byrne says partners were vocal about channel tensions, and that he and new VMware Channel Chief Brandon Sweeney are moving forward with plans to bring Dell EMC's and VMware's programs and strategies closer together.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise partners say the pledge to drive 100 percent of the sales of SimpliVity and Nimble through the channel is going to drive robust double-digit sales growth of hyper-converged and all flash solutions for partners.